it doesn't really come as a surprise, both infantas have had decreasing acts in the past months, with the asturias couple taking more and more center stage (rightly so). i am sure they will be delighted to go, inaki can follow a proper career and escape his "mr cristina de borbon" position and the family will more or less be able to live very private and "normal" out of the public eye, leaving the polemic behind for others to deal with it.

- inaki's job with telefonica international is the reason why they move, probably at the end of the summer, with the permission of the king, of course.
- the stay is supposed to be for 2 years but may be extended.
- they are likely to live in georgetown (felipe went to georgetown university), one of the most exclusive areas, and the urdangarin kids might go to the same school like the obama kids
- cristina's acts in spain will be delegated (although she will attend important constitutional acts) but will continue to work for the crown in the US, as kind of a promoter for the spanish issue, same direction as F&L trip a few weeks ago.
- yet to be decided what will happen to cristina's job at caixa.

I am sure they will be very well in Washington, also because they will be away from paparazzi for a while, hopefully.

Don't Cristina's children attend a French school now? If so they probably will attend a French school also in Washington.

I would think so too. Unless they are also fluent in English, I wouldn't expect them to go to the Sidwell School that the Obama girls attend. My guess would be that the children would either attend one of the French immersion schools in the area or a Spanish immersion school.

__________________"Always do what you are afraid to do."- R.W. Emerson

I live in Washington, D.C., and I doubt that they're going to move to Georgetown or send their children to the same school where the Obama girls go.

Georgetown is not a particularly attractive place for families with a lot of kids -- and it's not "exclusive" really. (Expensive, yes, but not "exclusive.") I'd imagine that they'd be more likely to move to McLean, Virginia, or Potomac, Maryland, where they'd have more room and more privacy/security.

The school where the Obama girls go is a Quaker school, which probably wouldn't appeal to this Catholic family. (Most of the Spanish and Latin American diplomats here don't send their kids to Sidwell, they go with the Catholic private schools.)

There are several Catholic and Episcopal schools in the area that are more exclusive and rate better than Sidwell Friends. Or maybe they'll try the non-religious Landon School for the boys (King Harald went there as a child).

i think it will be a great move to show their kids around and let them experience other lifestyle. besides, they will probably be much looking forward to some privacy.

i had a feeling they would choose the obama girls' school, although quaker religion is not popular in spain at all (although i have no idea if it interferes with catholicism). maybe they will choose a normal international school instead.

i thought georgetown was a nice choice, it's quite a quiet and nice area to live in, although perhaps a bit too young for them with so many students around?

i think it will be a great move to show their kids around and let them experience other lifestyle. besides, they will probably be much looking forward to some privacy.

i had a feeling they would choose the obama girls' school, although quaker religion is not popular in spain at all (although i have no idea if it interferes with catholicism). maybe they will choose a normal international school instead.

i thought georgetown was a nice choice, it's quite a quiet and nice area to live in, although perhaps a bit too young for them with so many students around?

I wouldn't call Georgetown a quiet area at all. It's a mix of students, shops, apartments, small (extremely expensive) houses, and large (astronomically expensive) houses. They'd have to have a huge house -- think $10 million and up -- to get something big enough for all their kids and have a little privacy.

There are other parts of Washington that are more exclusive and have bigger homes/more land, so those certainly would be a possibility.

Although a few of the single royals live in the city, others live in the suburbs. For instance, Reza Pahlavi and his family were in McLean, Virginia, for years. Farah Diba lived in Potomac, Maryland. King Hussein and Queen Noor had a house in Potomac, too, although I think she sold it a few years ago. CP Alexander of Yugo lived further out in Fairfax for a while, I think.

On schools, Washington International School might be a possibility for the kids, and it is near Georgetown, so maybe the rumors are right. Lycee Francais is in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which is a suburb just outside the city.

I seriously doubt, though, that they'd send their kids to Sidwell Friends, the school where the Obama girls (and Chelsea Clinton before them) went. First of all, it's extremely liberal, not just politically, but in the approach toward education/life. (Queen Sofia would have been expelled for politically incorrectness on her comments about "gay pride" a few months ago!)

Second, the lower school is in Bethesda, Maryland, not in Washington. Kids switch to the Washington campus in 6th or 7th grade, so they'd end up with the kids on different campuses anyway.

But, you never know. They'll probably ask their friends who live here what they think and where they send their kids to school, just like anyone else would.

My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

I am also from the DC area, and I am not sure that I agree with your characterizaiton of "ghetto". Yes, there are certainly bad and dangerous parts of the city...but I think you will find that in any major city in any part of the world. Crime happens in nice neighborhoods too!

And yes, the traffic is horrendous. There is no other way to put it. If we had put a little more money into a public transit system when it was fairly cheap, it wouldn't cost so much now. Plus, more and more people are moving "away" from teh city...and the urban planners didn't plan on that. Why on earth is Route 66 only two lanes

If the family chooses, as previously discussed they can live in Georgetown..its a fairly nice place but its not quiet or cheap at all. Or they can live near American University, which is where a lot of the Embassies are...a lot of the diplomats live there as well. I think one of the neighborhood is called Spring Valley...its just as expensive but you can definitely have some yard space for the kids. As previously mentioned, they can also live in Fairfax County (its right off 66) and this is where McLean is located or Montgomery County (Potomac) but too me that is not convenient for getting into the city. Bethesda would work just as well. But the food, shopping and cultural attractions are great in any of these locations.

My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

Your son must have wanted to discourage you from visiting again, because whatever you saw isn't at all characteristic of Washington! Is he by any chance at Andrews AFB? That is in a bad part of town, adjacent to several ghettos.

But, if he'd taken you to anything on the west side of the city, such as Georgetown, Spring Valley, AU Park, Wesley Heights, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights, and other places, you'd have seen some of the most beautiful in-town residences in the world. Most of Washington is quite safe and has a low crime rate -- much of the crime is limited to the bad neighborhoods. (BTW, Alexandria has beautiful homes, but it, too, has some horrible neighborhoods.)

The traffic is quite bad, but it would be much better if we didn't have tourists jamming our roadways. ;-)

I'm sure Princess Christina and her family have nothing to worry about.